Sonus fabre Venere s

You are wrong, the Venere 3 Signature being the top of the Venere line is made in Italy and has  a very beautiful and heavy cabinet. The models below are made  in China and may of lessor quality. There are some good reviews on the Venere 3 S worth reading.

SF Venere S, nice looking speaker. 

Spidey senses tell me assembled in Italy, but who are we fooling? Cabinet made in China, then shipped. 

Nothing new. Common practice to keep the balance sheet looking positive.

My made in China products look good and sound fine, just like my American pieces. I think the Venere S is a great speaker at a nice USED price-at least 1/2 retail. SF is a part of a corporate machine, it's not the SF 15 years ago.

Which ever SF veneer you get, I've yet to hear a bad one, it will sound more musical than the Klipsch, you’ll be able to listen for much longer periods with them and have a better sound stage in front of you. They are the violin’s of audio not fiddle’s.

Cheers George

You are wrong, the Venere 3 Signature being the top of the Venere line is made in Italy and has a very beautiful and heavy cabinet.

No, you are wrong. They’re not made in Italy, and their cabinets are still crap. Here’s a quote from Soundstage Access in their review of the Venere S:

“The S’s dimensions of 48.2”H x 15.2”W x 18.6”D make it a substantial proposition. Yet its 63.5-pound weight belies its size -- looking at it, I thought it weighed 10 or 20 pounds more. Sure enough, when I rapped my knuckles on a side panel, it responded with a hollow resonance -- the Venere S doesn’t have the most inert cabinet you can buy for $5000.”

Like I said, there are plenty of other excellent options in this price range that don’t have crap cabinets.

@georgehifi — I think you’re confusing the Venere line with SF’s “normal” speakers.  The Venere sound is much more bright and forward than the rest of the SF line — it was made to fit a lower price point and attract a different type of customer.  They bear no resemblance to the traditional SF sound.  I know — I had the Venere 2.5 in my system on an extended audition.